Looking for effective Youth Ministry program for our parish

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Hello all. A group of us at our Church were charged with helping to find a youth ministry program that serves the young men and women of our parish families (6,000 families +). I would like to know from you if there are any youth programs at your parish that seem to be effective for evangelizing and catechising your youth members. I am talking about teens here (up to, including and after their confirmation). Please pass on any ideas that your parish has put into action and found to be helpful.

Thank you,

Tony
 
first make sure everyone is on the same page with defining YM and what you want for your parish.
do you want CCD-RE for grades 6-12
do you want sacramental prep for confirmation
do you want a youth group involving all or part of that age group, separate from formal RE
do you want real YM-ministering to needs perceived among youth of the parish, providing pastoral care for youth with pastoral problems: incarcerated, gangs, pregnancy, post-abortion, depression, bullying all the problems kids deal with.
Make sure the people you hire to provide these services are clear on what you are expecting, and are professionally trained, particularly if your vision includes pastoral care, counselling etc.
Research your diocesan guidelines and resources in the YM office, and resources from the US Bishops.
 
Ditto to what PuzzleAnnie says.

If you are looking for a youth group activity that is also educational, someone on this board has recommended to me the Dead Theologians Society…

www.deadtheologianssociety.com

They study the lives and writings of the saints, I think.

More youth oriented catechesis:
If they are interested in bible study, you could try the T3 Bible Timeline (this is a version of Jeff Cavins’ Great Adventure Bible Study geared at teens). This Bible study consists of 6 35-45 minute DVD episodes that give kids the big picture of salvation history in the entire Bible. I am using it at my parish and the kids seem to like it.
greatadventureonline.com/T3/page.asp?ContentID=11

Ascension press also put out a Theology of the Body for teens (a sstudy on John Paul II’s theology of the body):
ascensionpress.com/shop/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=73

But, yes, you have to verify what form of youth ministry you want to provide (whatever you do, though, make sure that it is also catechetical at some level).
 
AngelicDoctor and PuzzleAnnie,

Thank you so much for your comments. This is excellent information. I checked out the Dead Theologians Society and this looks very interesting.

If anyone has any other thoughts, please post them.
 
I know this won’t be popular, but there is lifeteen, which is mainly for catecetics of those who aren’t regualr church goers. It moves very slowly through moral and religios topics but with fun and intrest, showing the concepts to those who don’t know. For instance, it has nights on issues such as abortion, sexuality, peer pressure and then religious issues such as Jesus’ divine and human nature and Saints. (I loved the one on the saints becuase one boy believed that saints became saints by having churches named after them:rolleyes:)

There is also the phillipino based Couples For Christ-Youth For Christ. This is a more comprehensive program and is developed for whole parish involvement.
 
one other thing I meant to point out is define the age group or groups you are trying to reach. YM for young teens, grades 6-8 is vastly different than the needs of HS kids, in so many ways, as HS is so different from college campus ministry or young adult ministry. They are often lumped together, sometimes in the same job description, but there are more differences than similarities. Whoever is directing this should be aware of their different needs, ways of learning, ways of communicating (or not), maturity, development etc.
 
I agree with Annie that you need different things for youth grades 6-8 and your HS teens. There are regional conferences in the summer put on by groups like Francsican Univ. @ Steubenville that you could take groups to even if your own program is not very comprehensive at first. There are also teams that will come out from some college ministries to help you put on retreats for teens.

I’ve posted a link to my parish which has very comprehensive programs for each age range with different youth ministers for the groups plus lots of lay volunteers to help out. Parental support will be key in making any programs successful so don’t forget to get them involved. We have Lifeteen and Parent’s for Life so that parents are getting lessons to complement what their teens are learning plus building their own friendships and support network. Even if you decide that you don’t want to use the whole LT program for your parish, you can get some good info from them.

We experienced a trickle down effect when LT gained momentum and got the teens on fire because the younger kids began to aspire to join the Mexico mission trips, service projects, passion play, retreats, etc. Now our youth (6-8 grade) join with others in their age from across the diocese for Mission Possible in the summer and do their own mini-mission right in Dallas.

www.stannparish.org
www.lifeteen.com
 
check out the franciscan university of steubenville website for the summer conferences, there is a youth ministry track at St. John Bosco catechetical conference.
franciscan.edu/Home2/Content/main.aspx?id=319
check out both the summer adult conferences–St John Bosco, and the summer youth conferences, where there are also youth leadership workshops
 
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